


A Little Known Nightmare

by Thedorkydj



Series: Reverse Nightmare [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Five Nights at Freddy's 3, Flashbacks, Friendship, Gen, It's fnaf what do you expect, Mild Horror, Multi, Mystery, Near Death Experiences, Suspense, Swearing, the puppet is very sassy in this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21540868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thedorkydj/pseuds/Thedorkydj
Summary: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria was once a place of happiness and laughter. But after tragedy upon tragedy struck, the name was left rot as an urban legend only a few believed.Now, 50 years after everything began, a horror attraction has opened up, telling the story of Fazbear's fall. But, things are not as they seem, and the story has far more twists and turns than originally thought for the night guard of Fazbear’s Fright.A Fnaf au playing around with several theories and other story elements made throughout the years.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Reverse Nightmare [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552417
Kudos: 11





	1. Let the Story Unwind

**Author's Note:**

> A few notes before we start.
> 
> 1\. This takes place in 2019.  
> 2\. This is a major au, and follows both the game and novel canon, and some of the fandom's major headcanons.  
> 3\. I've very busy with college, so please be patient if it feels like this fic starts off slow and updates slow, I promise it will pick up and be posted on a proper schedule. 
> 
> That's it! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Chapter Title Source. Game Over by DAgames.  
> Please go easy on me, it's been a long time since I've posted a fic.

COMING SOON!

Fazbear’s Fright: The Horror Attraction!

Local amusement park is getting ready to scare your socks off with a new attraction based on the unsolved mysteries of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

Featuring actual relics from the decades-old pizzeria, this new attraction is guaranteed to bring back your childhood in the worst possible way!

* * *

**Friday, September 13th, 2019.**

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Marc?”  
  
Marcus looked up from his phone and tilted his head.  
  
“Sure about what Val?” He turned to look at the woman beside him.  
  
She huffed, and said, “You know this place has a nasty history, and dad got screwed over by them too.”  
  
Marcus shook his head and replied,  
  
“Well, Fazbear’s Fright has nothing to do with the old place. Besides, dad doesn’t need to know.”  
  
“It’s the principle of the thing, Marc.” She gave him a pointed look, “Besides as the older one I’m allowed to worry.” Marcus rolled his eyes.

“Valerie, you’re only older than me by _10 mintutes_ , and besides, Minna’s the oldest anyways.”

“Well Minna moved out ages ago, so it’s my turn to be the concerned mother hen.”  
  
“I’ll be _fine_ Val. Besides, that’s dad’s job.” Valerie lightly pushed her brother.  
  
“Shush you, let me be concerned.” Marcus rolled his eyes at the overprotectiveness.  
  
Valerie crossed her arms and sighed, “Fine, I won’t stop you, just... Be careful ok?”  
  
Marcus gave his sister a grin and nodded. Valerie replied with a smirk and weakly punched his arm.  
  
“Now get out there Marc, you and Calum better have fun doing this at the very least.”  
  
Marcus nodded again with a smile and got out of the car. He made his way around the parking lot, looking around the area as he walked. He quickly checked his phone to make sure he was in the right area. Valerie would murder him if he gave her the wrong directions. The place was starting to quiet down. Most of the people were heading back to their cars after a busy and fun day at the amusement park.  
  
Marcus checked his watch, it was 11: 55 pm. He had already spoken to his best friend and future boss (now that was funny,) Calum, over the phone the day before, he hired him on the spot and asked Marcus to come to the attraction the next day to check out his office.  
  
Marcus entered the attraction through the front doors, as Calum told him to do so, and walked through the attraction at a slow pace. He noticed the effort that had been made to ensure the place was almost completely decked out with authentic props and memorabilia. There were even old shells of animatronics that had been converted into spooky lights, creating an eerie atmosphere that haunted the hallways. He could also smell the faint hint of fog, giving away the presence of a fog machine.  
  
He wandered around for a bit before he found the office. Marcus looked around, it was a rather good-sized office, right next to the exit too. It was rather dark though. He noticed there was only one way in if you discount the huge vent to the right of the desk. Marcus noticed three rather cute bobbleheads of the old animatronics and went closer to look. He poked the Freddy one and watch the head bounce in faint amusement.  
  
“Boo!”  
  
“Ahhhh!” Marcus scrambled away from the desk and looked at the door to see who scared him. There, by the door was a man about the same age as him, laughing his ass off.  
  
“Dude! You shoulda seen your face! It was totally hilarious bro!”  
  
Marcus’s startled expression soon melted into an annoyed one.  
  
“Not funny Calum.”  
  
“It totally was dude.” Marcus ran a hand through his auburn curly hair and sighed.  
  
“Ok, fine, it was kinda funny.” Calum gave him a grin.  
  
“I knew you would see it my way bro.” Calum walked over and gave Marcus a light punch on the arm.  
  
“This is going to be one sick attraction bro! And I’m so glad you’re helping out with it.”  
  
Marcus smiled back at him and returned the light punch.  
  
“Well, what are friends for?” If it was even possible Calum gave his friend an even bigger grin.  
  
“Now onto the main event my dude! This is going to be your office; pretty sick am I right?” Marcus gave him a nod.  
  
“Now, I would tell you more… Buuuut it would totally feel more organic if you tried the setup by yourself and work the graveyard ya know? It’s not complete yet. But it should be by tomorrow my dude.” Calum said as he finished his explanation.  
  
“That’s fair.” Marcus said as he sat in the office chair.  
  
“I’ll be in the back room if you need me, bro, recording some messages for you later this week,” Calum fingered gunned at him to the amusement of Marcus, “And remember your shift ends at 6! Later my dude!” And with that, Calum zipped out of the office.  
  
Marcus chuckled to himself at his friend’s enthusiasm and settled down to do his job.

  
As soon as his shift started, it felt like it ended just as quickly. Marcus yawned and stretched in his seat. When he got up to leave he felt a weird pang in his head.  
  
“Huh?” Marcus said to himself as he rubbed his head. It didn’t seem to do anything and it just got worse. Marcus swayed a little, his vision became spotty and he saw flashes of some images he couldn’t quite make out, he soon lost his balance and blacked out.

* * *

_There was only darkness, the suffocating kind one experienced as a child scared of what goes bump in the night. Soon, white figures began drifting in the darkness, looking around before they laid their eyes on their watcher. They stared and stared before fading back into the darkness, with a loud ringing signaling their departure._

_H̶͙̽͊ë̸̡̧́l̴͈̰͛̓͘͝ͅp̴̨͖̽́.̵̢̭̣̅̅͛.̶̪̠̈͛͝.̶͈̟̖̫̋̉̄͘ ̵̢̦̫́U̸̠̝͙̓̎́s̵͉͕̏͐̕.̵̨̲̼̥͆.̸̤̖̹̌̃́̚͜.̸͙̭̤̈͋̋͝_

_̵̡̫̮̌̽̽̈_

**_̵̤̫̍H̶̬̒e̶̩͉̗̙̐͛l̷͉̘̜̽́̍̿p̵̤͚̠̘̉_ ** _.̶̛̮̯̹̠.̷̣͓̻̙̃̐.̷̢͓̏_ **_̴̜̥͊̃͝U̸̞̐s̵̨̤̖͇̋͛͝͠_ ** _.̴̢̞̳̗̃̚.̴̼͐.̵̦͉͈̱͂͗_

_̷̗̇ͅ_

_̸̳̠͈̬̓͝H̸̡͌̓͠ ̸̥͝Ẻ̵̱͇_ **_̴̪͋L̸̹͍̻̒̽̍͘_ ** _̵͍͊̉̓P̴̮͐ ̶̖̳́U̶͔͚̙͈̐͋͘_ **_̴̨͚͇̘͛͊́͝Š̷̤̐_ **

**_S̸̢̡̛͚͚̣̠̮̦̃̈̿̊͗̔_ ** _̸̘̙̈́̒̂̐̈́̏̕Å̶̛̩̲̈́ ̶̦̏̈́͊̐̆̒̈̑̕V̴̧̙̰̬̟̈͌̄͐͗̃ͅ ̴̢̦̪̤̘͐̔̌͗E̶̪̻͈͙̣͚̼͂̉̓̎̿̕͝ͅ_ **_̶̛̰̮͈͊͗̑͑̏͜U̷̡͕̪̮̬̯̝͂̏͑̇̈́̌̃̉͘͠_ ** _̷̨̨͍͙͎̘̏͋̔͐̚S̷͓̯̾͋͗͝_

_Ŗ̵̲̿̈i̴̥͆̚i̸̲͘i̸̜̜͚̰̾͋̔ȉ̶̥̠̑͝_ **_i̸̺̞͎͕̎̀i̴̟̍̈̈́̏ͅi̸̥͍̮͆͛̔̚_ ** _i̵͕̹̾̄̋ͅn̸͎̫͇͒̓̽n̸̙̾̌n̷̛͈̥̋̍͜n̵̡̨̊̎͊_ **_n̶̲n̷̛͉̘͕͒̎ņ̷͓̮̯̋ǹ̷͍̹͇n̸̟̠̮͉̾̄͊̄_ ** _ň̵͇̫n̷̗͊n̷̠͖̾̒͌͘g̸̜̭͂̂͆̚ģ̸̯̳̥̅̾͗g̴̖̯̪̎̑_ **_g̶̪͓̒̎_ ** _g̶̼̐̂̍ġ̷̹̎g̵͔͔̔̓̆_

Valerie shot up right out of her bed, panting heavily. The ringing was still playing, and she turned to her nightstand to see her phone was going off, nearly falling off due to the vibration. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, um Val? Something happened to Marc. It ain’t good...

* * *

**Saturday, September 14th, 2019.**

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid we don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Valerie bounced her knees up and down in worry as she watched her father talk with the doctor.

  
“Are you positive? Is there anything you can do to help him?” Her father was clearly worried out of his mind, his gray eyes kept switching between the doctor and his comatose son.

  
“All we can do for him is to let him rest and hope he wakes up on his own Mr. Wisteria.” Once the doctor had finished speaking, he left the hospital room to give the family some privacy.  
  
The worried father sighed and sat down next to his daughter, frustrated he couldn’t help his son.  
  
“It’s going to be fine dad, Marc is going to be ok, he won’t let something like this keep him down,” Valerie said in a soft whisper, trying to comfort her father.  
  
Her father smiled and ruffled her hair slightly and said, “I know Val, but it’s my job to worry.”  
  
The two sat there for a few minutes in silence before the door opened up gently.  
  
“Vincent? I heard the news, how are you guys holding up?” A voice asked as an Asian American man walked in. He had a scar over his left eye, and an eye patch over his right.  
  
“Scott! I’m so glad to see you!” Valerie watched her father jumped up to embrace the man tightly; Valerie gave him a wave.  
  
“Hi, uncle Scott.” Scott waved back at her even though he was being crushed by a tight hug.  
  
“Hi Val nice to see you too,” Scott’s voice was muffled slightly and Valerie had to hold back a laugh, “Vince please let go, you’re crushing my windpipe.”  
  
“Sorry Scotty.” Vincent said as he let go of Scott, though he didn’t look too sorry. Valerie smiled softly, Scott always brought out the more… Mischievous side of her normally mellow father.  
  
Scott took a moment to regain his breath and looked over at Marcus’s still form, he frowned sadly. “Did they say what was wrong with him.”  
  
Vincent’s expression fell and he shook his head, “They have no idea how he fell into a coma, he was with Calum and that’s all we know.” Vincent explained.  
  
“At least Calum managed to get him to the hospital in time.”

Scott shook his head and said, “He’ll pull himself out, he’s a strong kid.” Vincent smiled softly at his old friend.

“Does Minna know yet Vincent?” Vincent’s eyes widened for a second before he quickly pulled out his phone,

“Thanks for reminding me, Scotty. How could I forget?” he said as he quickly texted his oldest daughter.

Scott rolled his eyes and said, “You would forget your own head if it wasn’t attached to the rest of you.” He turned his gaze at Valerie, who was answering a text message on her phone.  
  
“What about you Val? How are you holding up?” Valerie was startled a bit, she hadn’t expected to be asked a question and looked up from her phone.  
  
“Fine enough Uncle Scott... I’ll be back later dad, I have a job interview to go to. Love you.” And with that Valerie kissed her father's cheek and left the hospital room at a brisk pace. Scott frowned slightly as he watched the young woman leave the room.  
  
“Is it just me, or is Valerie acting more jumpy than usual?” Vincent sighed as he sat down in the chair Valerie was sitting in.  
  
“She’s been out of it since last night, I think something might have spooked her, or maybe she’s taking this harder than I thought.” Scott nodded and sat down next to the worried father.  
  
“I just hope Val doesn’t do anything rash or stupid.”

* * *

“Woah dudette? Seriously? You want to take over my bro’s job?” Calum was actually really surprised when Valerie drove all the way to Fazbear’s Fright just to chat with him, he always assumed he annoyed the crap out of her.  
  
“First of all, he's my brother, and second, well someone’s gotta do it right? I’ll just cover for Marc till he wakes up.” Valerie answered, tapping her foot as she waited for Calum to reply.  
  
“I don’t see why not! Welcome to the night-shift Val! You’ll start next Monday k?”  
  
“Got it Calum, see you later then.” Valerie turned to leave but Calum stopped her.  
  
“Wait for just a second Val, I gotta give you your uniform first! It’s an actual Fazbear employe uniform! Sick am I right?” Valerie just nodded as she waited for Calum to dig around in one of the containers in the back room.  
  
“Here you go dudette! It’s been washed and everything! I had to bleach out some gross brown stains though, so it’s not as bright as it should be. Come in with it on ok?” Calum shoved a purple uniform into Valerie’s hands before she could reply. 

The uniform was a faded out purple, it came with a hat that was a slightly darker shade. It also came with a dark purple tie. The only other color on it was a golden security badge. As Valerie examined the uniform, she noticed a faded out name tag with the initials “D.M” written on it. She would need to get a new one later.  
  
“Thanks, Calum, I’ll be here on Monday.” And with that Valerie left the backroom.  
  
As she walked out, she could have sworn she saw the white figures from her dreams last night. Those dreams were the main reason why she took the job in the first place, other than wanting to find out what happened to her twin. She figured the fog machine was playing tricks on her since the figures were still on her mind.  
  
Valerie stopped for a moment when she saw a strange clown-like mask on the wall. She stared at for a second before shaking her head and leaving. Why did that mask look so familiar? With an involuntary shiver, the young woman quickly left the building.  
  
It was going to be a long week. But at least it would be an easy, if boring week.  
  
“The only good thing about this whole mess is I’m getting paid for it,” Valerie said as she entered her car.  
  
“This week will be over in a snap.”  
  
But this is a Fazbear location, things are never that easy. The new night guard was in for one hell of a week.


	2. All Systems Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie spends her first night at Fazbear's Fright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, a double update. Well, this won't be happening to often, but since the fic just got started I felt like adding chapter 2 a bit early.

**Monday, September 16th, 2019.**

**Night One.**

* * *

Valerie still had an awful feeling about Fazbear’s Fright and she hasn’t even gone into the building yet. She fiddled with the tie on her tacky purple uniform to delay the inevitable. With a grimace on her face, she walked into the doors of Fazbear’s Fright.

Since the doorway was much lower than a normal doorway, she had to duck to avoid hitting her head on the door. Her green eyes flickered as she looked around the attraction. She jumped slightly when one of the lights flickered, she honestly didn’t care for horror attractions in the slightest.

It was her first night as the night guard and she already hated it. The only reason why she took this job was for her brother. Well, there was also that _other_ reason. Valerie was still shaken up by that strange dream she had a few nights ago, and in her gut, she knew it had to do with the new horror attraction and the legacy that came with it. 

So with a huff, Valerie sat down in the swivel chair and placed her bag underneath the desk, shaking the image of the strange white figures from her mind. The clown mask she saw the other day was also something that’s been on her mind, something about it felt important.

The entire building had been modeled to look like the original Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, this included outdated ventilation systems and wiring. Unsurprisingly, this proved to be quite a major design flaw; according to Calum, the designs of the ventilation, camera, and even the audio systems came straight from one of the old Fazbear buildings, but that meant that they had a tendency to fail because of their age.

One of the jobs that Valerie had to do since she was working a week before the grand opening of the place was to take note of when and how many times these systems failed. So the maintenance crew would have an idea of what needed fixing first.

“It would probably be a good idea to get those kinks smoothed out before actual customers came waltzing into the joint,” Valerie said to herself.

This was only her first night, after all, she needed to get used to the wonky setup. The young woman tapped her fingers on the desk as she waited for the 12 am call from Calum, he mentioned he was required to give her a message of some sort every night at exactly 12 am. Since that was the time her shift officially began, but Valerie always liked getting to places early when she can.

Just when she was about to check the time, the phone blared out its obnoxious ringtone, causing Valerie to jump and almost fall out of her chair. The phone only rang three times before Valerie quickly pulled herself together and answered it. 

“What’s up Calum?” She knew he wouldn’t answer back, but it was the principle of the thing and it made just listening to the recorded message a little less awkward.

**"Hey-Hey! Glad you came back for another night! I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time."** Calum answered on the other line. 

A part of Valerie wanted to tell him that this was her first night, but decided against it, she didn't need to be talking to things that can’t talk back this early… Or this late in the night. Besides these were pre-recorded, he had no idea she would be taking Marcus’s place as the night guard. Besides, once he started talking, there would be no stopping him anyway.

**"We found some-some great new relics over the weekend and we're tracking down a new lead right now. So-uh...let me just update you real quick, then you can get to work."**

"Whatever Calum, you’re the boss" That was all Valerie could think of to say before going back to listening. **"Like, the attraction opens in like, a week, so we had to make sure everything works and nothing catches on fire! Uh-when the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building and work their way towards you, then past you and out the exit. Yeah, you've officially become a part of the attraction. You'll be starring as...the security guard!"**

Valerie rolled her eyes. What else would she be? One of the animatronics?

**"So, not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras as they pass through, you know, make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show. It'll make it feel really authentic, I think"**

Valerie snorted, like anyone would be smacking lips in a horror attraction. Then again she does know some pretty weird people. With a shake of her head, Valerie continued to listen.

**"Uh...now, let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think might be authentic...then again it might be another crappy cosplay. We found a desk fan, very old school - metal, though so, watch the fingers."**

Valerie made a mental note that the fan could be used as a weapon in case of a break-in… Which will probably not happen, but hey, planning ahead never hurt anyone.

**"Heh-uh...right now, the place is basically just, you know, flashing lights...spooky props. I honestly thought we would have more by now. If we don't have something really cool by next week, we may have to dress you up in a furry suit and make you walk around saying "Boo...!" Hehe."**

“Oh goddammit, Calum no.” That’s all Valerie had to say about that _fun_ idea.

**"But you know, Like I said we're trying to track down a good lead right now. Uh, some guy who helped design one of the buildings says there was like, an extra room that got boarded up or-uh...something like that. So, we're gonna take a peek and see what we can find. For now, just get comfortable with the new setup. Um...you can check the security cameras over to your right with the click of that blue button. Uh, you can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams"**

Valerie quickly opened up the monitor and pressed the blue tab. The camera set was working, albeit the feed was filled with static. The monitor was by default on Camera 5, and there was nothing of note there. She noticed two extra tabs which were named 'Play Audio' and 'Map Toggle'. When she pressed the second tab it opened up to the vent cameras. As she was checking the vents, she noticed the five green dashes over the vent tubes. She paused for a moment before tapping it and a note suddenly came up, reading “To seal a vent, double-tap the vent cam button” Valerie raised an eyebrow. 

“Why would I need to seal the vents? Weird.” The night guard shook her head, and pressed the other tab, it played a sound bite from that little boy animatronic if Valerie had to guess.

**"Then over to your left, uh, you can flip up your maintenance panel. You know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline. Heh, so in trying to make the place feel vintage, we may have overdone it a bit. Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah...I wasn't joking about the fire. That-That's a real risk."**

“Calum I swear to god if I’m in a building that would make Smokey Bear have a heart attack I’m going to kill you.” Valerie groaned as she gave her attention back to the call. Valerie really didn’t want to burn to death in a horror attraction, that would be a sucky way to die.

**"Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation. Look, this place will give you the spooks, man, and if you let that ventilation go offline then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man. Keep that air flowin'"**

Valerie tilted her head slightly and popped open the maintenance panel after putting down the monitor. It was a simple black screen with bright green words that stated:

System Restart

Menu>>>

>>> Audio devices

Camera system

Ventilation

  
  


Reboot all

Exit

She quickly exited out of it once she double-checked to make sure everything was in working order. So these are the systems she had to keep an eye on. Wonderful.

**"Okay, keep an eye on things and we'll try to have something new for ya tomorrow night."**

"Yip yee. I look forward to it.” With a wisecrack from Valerie that Calum could not hear, the message was over. Valerie sighed and checked the clock. It was 4:00 am already. 

“Man Calum can talk a lot.”

After the call ended Valerie started looking around the place through the cams. Nothing was out of place. For the rest of the night, she just watched the animatronic heads light blink from cameras. 

“Dad had a bad history with you guys, he would be so mad if he knew I was working in the same building as you,” Valerie said, trying to alleviate her boredom.

After what felt like forever, Valerie heard the chimes that signaled that her shift is over. The moment she got up, a wave of nausea and dizziness burst into her head, forcing her to sit back down.

“Oh what the hell...” And with that Valerie ‘s vision was distorted and turned into literal static. She soon blacked out. 

* * *

**”** **_Oh goddammit, what the hell is going on?!”_ ** _Valerie said to herself as she looked around the new area she was now in._

_It was an old decrepit place. There were leaks in the roof and she could hear the pitter-patter of rats. Valerie jumped when she heard a loud thumping sound from down the hall. There, down the hallway, was the original Freddy Fazbear animatronic._

**_“Wait a sec, that Freddy has its head in the attraction…”_ ** _Valerie said to herself as she watched the animatronic._

_Suddenly he started walking down the hall Valerie was in, she froze, afraid he was able to see her. But he simply walked through her, it was a vision after all. Valerie soon followed it, wanting to see what else this vision would show her, it might be important. Now that she looked closer, she could faintly see a Purple Freddy that was leading the normal one somewhere._

**_“Follow me.”_ ** _Valerie involuntarily shivered when she heard the shadowy Freddy talk, it was raspy and faint but it was understandable._

_The Purple Freddy led his counterpart and by extension Valerie all the way to the back of the old pizzeria. It disappeared once they reached a small room with a door towards the back of it. When Valerie looked over at Freddy, she saw that he must have locked up or something because he stopped moving right in front of the door. If she looked closely she could see he was twitching, likely from an error. Before Freddy could fix the error, a man Valerie could only describe as purple jumped out, he was also holding an ax. Valerie jumped away from him out of reflex, as she could only watch as the man, with a strong swing of his arms chopped an arm off Freddy. Before long the man was able to completely dismantle the defenseless animatronic. A few seconds later all Valerie could see was static again, and she heard a familiar little boy laugh, ending off with a hello._

* * *

Valerie shot out of her chair with a loud thunk, she panted and shook her head, trying to recover from the vision.

“What the hell just happened?” Valerie lightly slapped her cheek to clear her head. She quickly checked the time, it was 6:05 am, her shift was over. She scrambled to get up, before bending down to pick up her hat that fell, brushing it clean.

“What have I gotten myself into?” She asked herself as she left with her first night behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Source. Another Five Nights By JT Music.  
> Also, I have a blog just for this fic now, so if anyone has questions or such go to that blog if you can, it's still very much a work in progress though.
> 
> https://reversenightmare.tumblr.com/  
> https://twitter.com/TheDorkyDJ  
> https://thedorkydj.tumblr.com/


	3. Forgotten for So Long

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fazbear's Fright finds their main attraction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, an early update. I felt like uploading this chapter early since it's probably the shortest of the prewritten batch I have, but the next chapter (which will probably be uploaded on Saturday) is the longest of the batch.

**Monday, September 16th, 2019.**  
  
 _Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock._  
  
The sound of dripping water and scampering rats echoed in this abandoned place as he laid dormant in the room.  
  
The tapping, as always, surrounded the room, going on and on without a pause. Dust particles floated through the air and settled on the grimy, dirt-encrusted floor. Not a hint of moonlight was ever able to get through the cracks of a small boarded up room that left him trapped in his own personal hell.  
  
How long has it been again? How many years has he been trapped in this long-forgotten room? He had lost track of time a long, long, time ago. He wasn’t able to tell the time in the pitch-black room, the sunlight could make it’s way to this tiny room. He accepted his bitter fate, he was never leaving this prison, he would be damned for all eternity.  
  
A part of him wished it was over. Each passage of time crawled by so painfully slow. He wished his life ended back _then._ It may have been a bitter end if it all ended down there, but at least his story would have at least come to an end. Alas, it seemed fate had more suffering and torment in store for him.  
  
But he knew this was what he deserved, what he had done warranted such a punishment. He was a horrible, wicked man who brought his own doom on himself.  
  
A sound from beyond his personal hell was what truly woke him, for the first time in so many years; the screech of rusty brakes signaled the arrival of a car or truck in the parking lot. He remembered the sound of those brakes, though he was “asleep” he still heard them, those fools came back. There was nothing for them here in this desolate, abandoned children's place.  
  
The faint sound of voices drifted throughout the entire building.  
  
 _Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump._  
  
 _“Do.... yo… a… crowbar…?”_  
  
 _Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump._  
  
 _“Yeah… that way… that room...”_  
  
 _Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump._  
  
The old and buggy AI kicked in instantly, causing him a moment of pain as he lost control of his tomb. Those people were looking for the safe room, it doesn’t matter, the tapping continued after a brief pause.  
  
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.

* * *

“Give me a hand, will you?” Jason asked. “These boards are stuck on tight, like damn.”  
  
“Right, sorry my dude,” Calum replied. He snapped out of his thoughts and began bending one of the boards away from the doorway.  
  
It was the third time they had been to one of the pizzerias in the last few weeks. Calum called up his uncle again for advice, who hinted that there was a boarded-up safe room at one of the locations. It just so happened to be the location that closed last, and the one closest to the new attraction.  
  
The two men were able to pry off most of the boards at a good pace.  
  
“Hey dude, you think something’s going to pop out at us?” Calum asked to break the silence, Jason rolled his eyes.  
  
“Don’t say that shit man, you’re going to jinx us.”  
  
“Well maybe we need a jinx, we haven’t had the best luck lately.”  
  
Once all the boards had been pried off, the two men heard a creaky whirl, and then a screechy, broken voice.  
  
“H-H-Hey t-t-there, ki-ids! I-It’s m-me … It’s m-meeeee … It’s me-meeeeeeeee … Spppprrringggggg…….”

Both men jumped.  
  
“Holy shit! We found one! We actually found one!” Calum was practically jumping up and down in excitement.  
  
“Well, there’s no way in hell I’m going in there bud,” Jason said with his arms crossed.  
  
“It’s not going to munch on ya bro, c’mon and help me with this,” Calum said as he walked into the room.  
  
“Calum! Calum, get back over here!” Jason sighed in exasperation and followed his friend.  
  
When he caught up to him, he was staring at a grotesque and managed bunny animatronic, it was slumped against the wall in a human-like manner. It went way past the uncanny valley and straight into terrifying. It was downright horrific, an abomination even.  
  
“It’s perfect!” Calum practically shouted, his face was beaming with joy that really shouldn't be there considering the thing that was in front of him.  
  
Jason flinched and glared at the ragged bunny.  
  
“Dude, shut it you might wake it up.” Calum rolled his eyes.  
  
“Don’t be such a wuss man, help me get this to the truck.” John raised his hands in defeat and walked over.  
  
“Fine, but once it bites your hand off or something don’t come crying to me.” Calum only grinned.  
  
“Man, Valerie is in for a surprise tomorrow night!”  
  
Nobody noticed the tapping had stopped when the two men hauled the animatronic into their truck, and nobody noticed the slim black figure that smuggled itself into the truck, which was heading straight for the horror attraction.

* * *

**Tuesday, September 17th, 2019.**

Valerie jolted out of her bed in a cold sweat, the sound of tapping was echoing in her head

“Seriously, what is _wrong_ with me, why does this keep happening?” She asked herself as she tried to catch her breath.  
  
She picked up her phone from her nightstand to check the time, she swore when the phone read 11:00 pm.  
  
“Guess I’m not going to get any extra sleep tonight, wonderful.” The young woman sighed and put her phone back on the nightstand.  
  
She got up quickly and headed downstairs after tying her hair into its usual ponytail. That last dream was a strange one, all she saw was static. The real meat of the dream was what she heard. All she heard was an irritating tapping noise and the sound of what might have been a music box in the background, then it just abruptly stopped, forcing her into consciousness.  
  
Once she got to the bottom of the stairs she headed straight for the kitchen. She quickly rummaged through the cabinet and looked for a box of tea. Her shift didn’t technically start for another hour, so she wasn’t going to get any more sleep. She was able to brew herself a cup in no time, and she sat down to think about the dream some more.

Well, she _would_ have thought about the dream some more if Scott didn’t walk into the house at that very moment. He looked surprised but happy to see Valerie. He walked over and sat at the table with her.

“Hey Val, what are you doing up so late?” Valerie raised an eyebrow at him as she sipped some of her tea.

“It’s nothing, I just start working in a bit, I just need the caffeine is all.” Scott frowned slightly at that.

“You’re working a graveyard shift? Those shifts are the worst Val.” Valerie sighed and put her cup down.

“I know Uncle Scott, but hey at least I don’t need to do much, besides dad could use all the help he can get when it comes to money right now.” Valerie looked up and asked, “Is he still at the hospital?”

Scott nodded and said, “Yeah, he probably won’t be back for another hour, I came here to drop off some of his things.” Valerie nodded and got up to put her empty cup in the sink.

“Well, I should probably get ready for my shift, tell dad I said hi.” And with that, Valerie gave Scott a quick hug before heading upstairs to at least look somewhat decent. 

Scott sighed and went to Vincent’s room to put away his things neatly. Valerie must have gotten ready quick since he saw her close the front door once he walked out of Vincent’s room. He could have sworn he saw a familiar shade of purple, and an involuntary shiver went down his spine as he watched Valerie drive off. Is Valerie involved with....?

Scott quickly shook his head, there’s no way that Fazbear’s was still in business. Besides, Valerie was a grown woman, she could take care of herself. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Source. Just an Attraction By TryHardNinja.
> 
> https://reversenightmare.tumblr.com/  
> https://twitter.com/TheDorkyDJ  
> https://thedorkydj.tumblr.com/


	4. Did You Listen to the Vision You Saw?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie starts her second night at Fazbear's Fright and finally receives answers from an unlikely ally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a chapter that I've been excited to upload. I hope you enjoy since this is a longer chapter.

**Tuesday, September 17th, 2019.**

**Night Two.**

As Valerie was walking through Fazbear’s Fright, a pit was forming in the bottom of her stomach. 

“Why do I have such an awful feeling about tonight?” The night guard said to herself as she made her way to the office.

Once she got to the office she sat down in her swivel chair and went straight for the cameras to check up on everything. The cameras were full of static as usual, a few new props here and there but nothing had really changed as far as Valerie could tell. She sighed and flipped the tablet down and checked the clock, it just turned to 11:35 pm.

It was going to be a long night. 

The young woman sighed and slumped in her chair.

Valerie quickly unzipped the hoodie that she wore over her uniform, it was much hotter in the attraction this night than it was before. She decided to look through the cameras again, it was her _job_ after all. As she lazily flipped through the attraction there was still nothing out of place as far as she could see. 

But then she reached CAM 8; there was a _figure_ standing in the middle of the hall, barely obscured by the static. When Valerie looked at it, she noticed how skinny it was, almost like a puppet of some sort. The mask it wore was quite familiar to her, it normally hung on the wall but now it was on this strange marionette-like creature. 

“What the hell?” Valerie muttered as she leaned in to take a closer look at it. The moment she did, the camera blacked out for just a moment before it came back on, but the figure was gone. 

A pop up for a video error interrupted her search for the figure. She quickly shoved the monitor away to reboot the system that had suddenly gone down.

When she did so, the figure was right in front of her.

Valerie yelped and a string of curse words followed her when she fell out of her chair in a panic. The figure seemed to have gained an irritated look on its face as it held one of its long claw-like fingers towards its mouth in a shushing gesture.

“ _Language_ , this is a family-friendly establishment.”

All Valerie could do was just gawk at the figure, bewildered by the fact that a marionette-like creature was _scolding_ her for swearing. She would probably laugh if she wasn’t so taken off guard by the fact that a _marionette_ somehow teleported into her office and was talking to her.

Realizing the marionette, puppet, _thing_ wasn’t going to attack right away, Valerie quickly got back into her chair and rebooted the systems. 

“Umm… Hi there?” The marionette tilted its head at her, it just stared at Valerie, it was studying her intently.

“Erm…” Valerie stumbled over her words, “I—I'm not going to hurt you or anything like that. Sooooo don't hurt me ok?" The marionette circled around her, still watching her with those white pinprick eyes.

“I-I’m just doing my job as the nightguard here so….” Valerie probably needed to call her therapist again since she was talking to a _living_ marionette, well it’s probably alive. This was going to be an interesting night, that is if she survives it. 

“Perhaps you’re the one…” Valerie cringed at the sound the marionette made when it finally spoke again, it had an echo-like twang to it. Well at least it was talking again, she could cancel that call now, unless she really was losing it.

“Umm… Excuse me?” The marionette had stopped circling around her, now it was sitting on the desk right in front of her.

“Tell me, child, why do you come to this place?” the marionette asked. “Maybe ignorance? Or maybe because you have a purpose?” Valerie had no idea how to respond to _that._

“It’s my job...?” The puppet gave her an annoyed look.

“That cannot be the only reason, guards like _you_ never stay just for minimum wage,” Valerie noted the tone of displeasure the puppet had when it said the word guard. 

Oh, what the hell, she might as well tell the puppet thing about the strange dreams she’s been having related to the place, and about her brother falling into a coma while he was here. Besides, this night couldn’t get any weirder anyways.

“Ok, _fine._ The actual reason why I’m here is cause I keep getting these freaky dreams and my brother fell into a coma while he was here. Happy?” The puppet did look rather pleased with itself.

“So you _are_ the one.” The puppet’s voice had an edge of excitement to it, and it also looked rather… Ecstatic? Valerie honestly couldn’t tell how the thing was expressing emotions so easily since it’s mask was in a permanent grin.

Before the night guard could reply the puppet spoke again, “Tell me child, what do you know of this place?” Valerie blinked and tilted her head.

“Well, I know that Fazbear’s got closed down because some kids went missing and probably murdered. And there was something about a bite? Also, there were rumors that the place was haunted.” The puppet nodded,

“I see, so you do know the vile story of this place, and you’re able to receive their cries for help.” 

“Cries for help? Is that what those freaky dreams are? How do you even know these things anyways?” At least Valerie was getting some answers now, albeit very cryptic answers. But she will take what she can get at this point. The puppet was now circling around her again.

“You’re their only hope now, I thought if I let them take their revenge they could move on…” Valerie’s eyes widened slightly, so the rumors were true. Haunted pizzeria, go figure.

“As for your second question, I arrived at the pizzeria once the first life was taken by malicious intent. I hoped that if the children could control their tombs, they could get their revenge and move on…”

“So this place really is haunted?” The puppet gave her another annoyed look, “Yeah, I know, dumb question. But what’s this about me being “the only hope”? I wasn't even alive when they were murdered.”

“If you couldn’t help them, how could I?” 

The puppet’s expression changed to a more somber one, it wasn’t looking at Valerie anymore, it was staring at the empty Freddy shell.

“The children are cross with me, they hid away to the Flipside when they failed to move on. But they still cry out, you’re the only human that’s heard those cries, so you’re the only one who can find them.” Valerie massaged her temples, getting sick of the puppets riddles, and sighed,

“Ok, can you _please_ give me a straight answer now? Like, can you tell me what exactly is going on? Why did my brother fall into a coma and I didn’t, things like that.” The puppet huffed and turned back to look at her.

“I cannot provide you with too many answers right now, there are some rules in this place I must follow, but I will help as much as I can.” Valerie gave the puppet a look but it continued without pause, “There is something evil here tonight, and you only have about half an hour to find the first child before _he_ walks again.” 

“Wait just a second, are you saying I’m in danger tonight?” The puppet just nodded. Valerie slumped in her chair slightly.

“Great, but if those poor kids need closure and I’m the only one that can help them, then I should.” The puppet actually looked surprised she agreed to help.

“You are a very odd night guard, most of them just scream and never listen to the children's pleas for help.”

“Valerie, Valerie Wisteria is my name.” The puppet tilted its head.

“Wisteria? That name sounds familiar.” Valerie looked away from the puppet.

“It should, my dad used to work at Fazbear’s. The place made his life pretty difficult afterwards.” The puppet simply nodded, it’s grin widening slightly.

“Ah, there’s the third motive for you being here. You want to posthumously clear your father’s name.”

Valerie turned back to look at the Puppet in surprise.

“How did you-” The puppet cut her off before she could finish,

“It doesn’t matter, Valerie. Now we need the first child soon, it’s almost midnight.” Valerie nodded,

“Right, sooooo how do I find them?” The puppet leveled another annoyed look at her, it must enjoy making that face at her.

“You’re the one who saw the vision, did it give you a hint as to where you can find the child’s hiding place?” Valerie thought for a moment before replying,

“Well, at the end of the vision I had at the end of my last shift, I heard the laugh of that Balloon boy character.” The puppet began floating back and forth in a pacing manner, it was clearly trying to decipher the clue of the vision.

“BB was never the most popular animatronic, unfortunately. Check your camera's, find a drawing of him, that may be the gateway to the Flipside, and the hiding place of one of the children” 

Valerie fiddled with her tie before answering the puppet.

“What will happen to me if I do find this Flipside place?” The puppet stopped it’s pacing and looked at her.

“Your soul will enter the Flipside, basically a spirit world of sorts, and your body will go into a trance-like state. I will keep watch over your body so nothing happens to it. Once you find and help the child, you will return to your body… In theory...” 

Valerie just nodded, she’s probably taking in all of this craziness way too easily. Maybe she does need to schedule that call with her therapist… 

“Wait, in theory?” The puppet at least had the decency to look a bit sheepish.

“Well, I’ve never encountered a human who can enter the Flipside, so this will be a bit of a blind run this go around.” 

_Welp,_ Valerie thought to herself, _looks like I’m going to be a guinea pig for a sentient puppet, there are worse fates._

“By the way, what should I call you? I gave you my name, now you can give me yours.” The puppet gave her an odd look before replying,

“I was never given a proper name, the employee's either called me the Puppet or the Marionette, either one is fine by me.” Valerie tilted her head and frowned.

“Why weren’t you given a name?” The puppet just leveled a glare at her.

“We do not have time for this, I will try to answer more of your questions once you find the first child.” Valerie just raised her hands defensively.  
“Ok, I know. No need to get so hostile.” 

Valerie was pretty sure the puppet rolled the little white pinpricks in its eyes. She quickly opened up the cameras before the puppet would get more aggravated with her and looked for a drawing of Balloon Boy. After flipping through the cams for a few seconds, Valerie found the only drawing of Balloon Boy in CAM 8. She looked up at the puppet, hesitation across her face. The puppet simply gave her an encouraging gesture, and after taking a deep breath, Valerie tapped the drawing. 

Nothing happened.

Tilting her head, Valerie tapped it again. Immediately a familiar wave of nausea and dizziness burst into her head, luckily she was already sitting down so she simply let her body relax in her chair. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the puppet’s look of relief and maybe a hint of worry.

* * *

_When she opened her eyes, Valerie was in a completely different place. It was made up of blues and shades of black, if she looked closely the whole area had a pixelated look to it. The area was also covered in platforms that look like they came straight out of an old video game, they even carried collectibles in the form of balloons. Valerie looked at herself, and noticed she was wearing a completely different outfit. She was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with buttons on it, and her pants were black with white stripes. Her hat had been replaced by a mask that was resting on the side of her head, and she had a feeling that it was an exact replica of the Puppet’s mask. If she was being honest with herself, she was basically cosplaying the Puppet now._

**_“Looks like I ended up in a furry suit anyways, just great.”_ ** _Valerie sighed to herself as she looked around._

 **_“_ ** **Oh, it worked, that is quite a relief.”** _Valerie jumped when she heard the Puppet’s voice from out of nowhere._

 _“_ **_Um, hey Puppet? Can you hear me and why am I cosplaying you?”_ ** _Frankly, Valerie was beginning to wonder if she’s inhaled too much of the attractions nasty vent air at this point._

 **_“_ ** **Yes, I can Valerie, as for your second question. I believe I’m acting as an “anchor” for you to the real world, hence why you are “cosplaying” me.”** _Valerie snorted at the Puppet’s use of the word cosplay, obviously, they’ve never heard of the word before._

_Valerie felt a tug on her pant leg and looked down. It was the little boy animatronic, Balloon Boy. Though, he also resembled a character from an 8-bit game just like the environment._

**_“Hello!”_ ** _He said to her as he waved his free hand. Valerie waved back after a moment._

 **_“Hi there um, BB, do you have any idea where one of the kids is hiding?”_ ** _She hoped Balloon Boy knew where the kid was, she didn’t have a lot of time left. The small animatronic nodded and pointed to a higher-up cliff nearby._

 **_“Thanks BB.”_ ** _Valerie quickly thanked him and patted his head. She then started climbing the platforms._

_She noticed Balloon Boy was following her, and keeping up the pace well. He was also grabbing the balloons that were on the platforms. Once she reached the cliff Balloon Boy pointed to the wall. She looked around it, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it._

_That is until she touched the wall and phased straight through it, and fell with a startled yelp. Her vision went black for a second, before her surroundings changed completely. It still had that pixelated feel to it, but the area was colored black and white. There were statues of what appeared to be blacked out, crying Balloon Boys,_

**_“That’s…. Really freaking creepy.”_ ** _Was all Valerie could say about that as she walked past them, she soon reached an area with a single platform. Once she climbed over it she saw a flashing balloon. When she walked over to it and touched it her vision once again went completely black._

_When Valerie opened her eyes, she was once again in a new pixelated environment. This time colored navy blue and purple. As Valerie was walking around she suddenly tripped._

**_‘Oww, what the hell did I trip over?”_ ** _Valerie asked herself as she looked around the ground once she got up. There, lying in a heap was a fox animatronic. Only it looked more like a mess of wires and plastic now._

 **_“Wait a minute… You’re the Mangle right?”_ ** _The fox nodded and a garbled noise came out of its mouth, making Valerie wince._

 **_“Ok, I must be close to the kid now, can you help me find them?”_ ** _Mangle nodded in a very happy way and began following Valerie as she walked down the corridor._

_What greeted the two was another series of platforms, and instead of balloons, it was… endoskeleton pieces?_

**_“I’m guessing those are yours?”_ ** _Mangle didn’t even bother to nod and somehow jumped up on the first platform to grab the first piece. They quickly attached it to themself and gave Valerie a very pleased look._

**_“We probably have to grab the rest of them huh?”_ **

_Between the two of them they were able to grab all of the endoskeleton pieces in a timely fashion. Once Mangle had all of their parts back, they started scratching at a wall. Valerie narrowed her eyes at the wall with a sour look on her face._

**_“If I touch that wall I’m going to fall right through it aren’t I?”_ ** _Mangle stopped scratching the wall and just pointed at the wall with their head._

_Valerie sighed and carefully walked through the wall, and she wasn’t even surprised to be in a new place when she opened her eyes._

_The area she was in now resembled the night sky in pixel form. As she walked through, she found a path made of balloons waiting for her at the end of the path. Valerie grinned and looked up,_

**_“Thanks BB!”_ ** _She quickly began climbing the balloons._

_After a few tries and almost falling down much to her fright, Valerie made it to the top, and she found a white crying figure. That must be the child. They didn’t even open their eyes when Valerie crouched down near them._

**_“Ummm… Hi there, it’s ok now alright? You can rest now”_ ** _Valerie said in an effort to comfort the child._

_When she reached out to pat the child, a cake suddenly appeared in front of the child, startling Valerie. The child opened their eyes and looked at the cake, and then back at Valerie. Right afterward, Valerie’s vision became static, and before she returned to her body she could have sworn she heard a quiet voice say thank you._

* * *

The first thing that came out of Valerie's mouth when she came back was a painful groan.

“That was by far, the _weirdest_ thing that has ever happened to me! Honestly, this night can _not_ get weirder!” The puppet looked slightly amused.

“I’m guessing you found the first child?” Valerie simply nodded, trying to regain her bearings.

The puppet floated over.

“You did it, and with a minute to spare. Well done Valerie.” Valerie raised an eyebrow at the puppet.

“The night’s not over yet, I still have my shift to take care of.” The puppet sighed and crossed its arms.

“I’ve done all I can tonight, once it becomes midnight I can no longer help you. Good luck Valerie.” Valerie blinked and frowned.

“Wait can you at least tell me why I’m in danger tonight?” It was too late, the puppet somehow disappeared and left Valerie alone in her office. 

Valerie huffed and slumped a bit in her chair.

“Of course you have to leave right when I ask you something. _Of course.”_ Valerie was so annoyed that she almost missed the phone call from Calum. She picked up after the fourth ring.

“Hey Calum.” She answered automatically, before putting the recording on speakerphone.

 **“Hey, man- okay, I have some awesome news for you! First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, prehistoric!”** Calum’s voice came from the phone. 

**“I think they were, like, training tapes for other employees or something like that. So, I thought we could like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that makes this feel legit, man"** Valerie rolled her eyes slightly.

“You always get excited over the smallest things Calum.” She said to herself.

 **"But I have an even better surprise for you..."** Calum laughed, which caused Valerie to tilt her head.

“Oh boy, what is it Calum?”  
 **"You're not gonna believe this... We found one. A real one!"** Valerie felt a chill run down her spine.

“A real what? Calum what is here with me!?” But of course, Calum didn’t answer her.

 **"A, uh, ah- gotta go, man...well, look, it's in there somewhere; I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found; talk to you later, man!"**  
  
"See what?! Wait, Calum, I swear to god-" The phone clicked off, and all Valerie was left with was silence. “Fantastic...” Valerie sighed and immediately started to flip through the cameras to find Calum’s surprise. She found it alright.

“So, that must be the danger the puppet warned me about…” Valerie said in shock as she stared at the ragged animatronic that was now in the attraction alone with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Source. Five More Nights By JT Music.
> 
> https://reversenightmare.tumblr.com/  
> https://twitter.com/TheDorkyDJ  
> https://thedorkydj.tumblr.com/


	5. Watch your Breathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie gets her first taste of the true Fazbear's nightshift experience when she's left alone with a murderous animatronic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate Title, Valerie has a bad night. Here's the last chapter of the prewritten batch so updates may not be as quick in the future.

**Tuesday, September 17th, 2019.**

**Night Two.**

“What the actual _fuck_ is that thing!?” Valerie exclaimed when the moment of shock wore off.

The surprise Calum so lovingly left Valerie was an animatronic alright, though it looked more like a monster instead of the cute bunny it was supposed to be. How the hell it entertained children without scarring them for life was beyond her, but Valerie kept the camera trained right on it. Not a moment later… The phone went off again which made Valerie let out a startled shriek.

**"Welcome to your new career as a performer/entertainer for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, these tapes will provide you with much-needed information on how to handle/climb into/climb out of mascot costumes."**

“Scott!?” Valerie whipped her head at the phone in surprise. The shock of hearing her godfather’s voice quickly wore off when she remembered the Puppets warning of danger. The night guard quickly flipped the camera back up to take another look at the grotesque bun- it was gone. Valerie did a double-take,

“Where the hell did it go!?” As she was rapidly flipping through the cameras in increased panic, Scott’s voice continued to speak.

**"Right now, we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronics and suits. So, please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits as accidents/injuries/death/irreparable and grotesque maiming can occur."**

Valerie's eyes flickered to the phone for a brief second before returning back to the cameras. 

“This ray of sunshine is probably one of those death suits, _wonderful_ .” She muttered to herself as she _finally_ found the animatronic again. 

It was… just standing in plain sight on CAM 8, giving Valerie a decent look at it. It was definitely supposed to be a rabbit, judging by the big ears. Well ear, since one of its ears was missing its top half. Its face was what was getting at Valerie, it looked like it was permanently grinning in sadistic glee. Yeah, it definitely belonged in a horror attraction alright.

**"First and most discussed is how to operate the mascots while in animatronic form. For ease of operation, the animatronics are set to turn and walk towards sound they hear which is an easy and hands-free approach to making sure the animatronics stay where the children are for maximum entertainment/crowd-pleasing value."**

“Walks toward sound huh... Maybe….” Valerie muttered to herself as she flipped to CAM 9 and played the audio of Balloon Boy’s voice. Sure enough, after a second the bunny followed the loud hello.

**"To change the animatronics to suit mode, insert and turn firmly the hand crank provided by the manufacturer. Turning the crank will recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the suit, providing room to climb inside. Please make sure the spring locks are fastened tight to ensure the animatronic devices remain safe.”**

“Suit animatronics? What the hell...” Valerie muttered as she lured the bunny to CAM 10.

**“We will cover this in more detail in tomorrow's session. Remember to smile; you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."**

With that, the recording ended leaving the office silent, save for the sounds of ambiance and Valerie’s increasingly panicked breathing. The night guard took a second to control her breathing and to absorb the contents of the training tape. 

She wasn’t given much time to process what was happening since a minute after the tape stopped the tablet flickered with static. When the static faded, the animatronic had moved again.

“Oh come on! Stop moving!” Valerie hissed as she once again had to skim through the cameras to find the bunny animatronic. After a few seconds of flipping through the main cameras and finding nothing, the night guard immediately switched to the vent cameras.

“Really? How the hell did it even fit in there?!” Valerie muttered to herself as she spotted the animatronic in one of the vents. She quickly sealed the vent in hopes of keeping the damn thing from sneaking around anymore.

Suddenly, the cameras blacked out with a video error popping up on the monitor.

“Oh for the love of-,” Valerie muttered curses under her breath as she lowered the monitor and quickly popped open the maintenance panel.

She jammed her pointer finger on the video button to reboot the damn thing. The night guard impatiently tapped her foot as the cameras slowly rebooted.

“Finally.” She muttered to herself when the cameras came back online.

She immediately switched back to the monitor just to see the animatronic had left the vents.

“Of _freaking_ course.” The night guard sighed as she once again had to search through the entire attraction to find the mangled bunny. 

But once she tapped on CAM 10, there was something _else_ glaring at her. It looked like a burnt, filthy version of Balloon Boy.

“What the-” Valerie was cut off when she lost her grip on the monitor. She looked up and the burnt Balloon Boy was suddenly in front of her.

The night guard wasn’t even given a chance to move before it suddenly lunged at her, opening its mouth wide with a loud hissing screech. 

Valerie screamed in terror and practically jumped out of her chair to avoid it. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, leaving the alarms screaming and the room flashing red. Valerie was too busy panting and trying to control her heart rate to notice right away.

“What is going on tonight!? I’m losing my goddamn mind.” She panted as her vision was fading in and out. She managed to regain her bearings enough to flip open the maintenance panel. Next to the ventilation icon, there was an error message in red letters.

She quickly tapped the button to reboot the ventilation and climbed back into her chair. After giving herself a moment to just _breathe_ , Valerie was about to reopen the monitor, when something _moved_ in front of the viewing panel in front of her.

It seemed to be limping and… the silhouette looked like Freddy Fazbear, and just like the Balloon Boy from earlier, it was burnt. Valerie leaned in to take a closer look, but it suddenly ducked down under the window. Before she had a chance to even _think_ , the burnt Freddy popped up and was suddenly right in her face. It lunged forward at her with the same hissing screech as the burnt Balloon Boy.

The night guard shrieked and threw her hands out in front of herself in pure reflex. Just like Balloon Boy, Freddy disappeared like a ghost, leaving Valerie once again to the blaring alarms and a lack of air.

Valerie managed to quickly regain herself and flip open the maintenance panel with a shaky hand. She pressed her finger on the ventilation button once again and leaned back in her chair. Not even taking a moment to breathe, the night guard turned her attention back to the monitor. 

It surprisingly did not take long to find the bunny again, it was in CAM 2, getting closer to the office.

“The damn thing probably heard all my screaming.” Valerie grumbled to herself as she switched to the closest camera, which happened to be CAM 3 and played the audio cue there. 

Just like before, it followed the laughter of Balloon Boy and was now a bit further away from the office. Valerie quickly looked at the clock for the time in hopes this will be _over_ soon. It was 4:40 already, she just had to hold out for a bit longer.

“Now just keep following…” Valerie muttered to herself as she played the audio cue in CAM 2, in the hopes of trapping the animatronic in a loop.

This strategy worked out surprisingly well, for a bit. Just as Valerie was about to lure it back to CAM 3, she got an audio error.

“No, no, _no!_ Not now!” She quickly switched to the maintenance panel and in her hurry to fix the audio, accidentally pressed reboot all.

“ _Shit.”_ Valerie slumped in her chair in frustration as she glared at the maintenance panel slowly reboot.

The sound of footsteps and a strange buzzing noise made Valerie jump and turn away from the maintenance panel. When she looked up, a startled squawk came out of her when she saw the spring animatronic standing right in front of the viewing window and staring back at her.

The animatronic was _much_ more terrifying and real when the only thing separating the two was a glass window. Valerie went stock still, just staring back at it, hoping if she didn’t move it would lose interest. The bunny seemed to be studying her with it’s glowing white eyes. It’s head tilting and twitching here and there. Its eyelids then drooped into a glare and Valerie swore its permanent grin grew wider.

Valerie practically jumped out of her chair when the animatronic suddenly banged against the viewing glass, and surprisingly not breaking it. But it did scare Valerie out of her skin, and the bunny only grinned wider after Valerie glared at it once she regained her bearings. The mangled thing scared her on purpose. 

A minute more into their staring contest, the ventilation decided to go offline.

“For _fuck's_ sake!” Valerie all but screamed, not caring how her outburst would affect the animatronic.

As she turned back to the maintenance panel for what felt like the hundredth time, she saw in the corner of her eye the animatronic run past the viewing window.

After tapping the ventilation, Valerie opened up the cameras to track down the bunny again. 

“It’s probably gotten too close.” She muttered as she skimmed through the cameras.

As she was skimming through she quickly checked the clock to see how much longer she had until her shift was over. It was 5:58, _she could do this._

That was what she thought until she saw something run past the Freddy shell by the door. Valerie was hesitant to look at the monitor, but she quickly checked CAM 1. When the screen cleared up, a single glowing eye was staring right into the camera. 

Valerie put down the monitor and turned back towards the door and there it was in the flesh, no viewing window between the guard and animatronic this time. The spring animatronic was glaring right at her, its head peeking behind the doorway. It was once again just staring at her, like it was studying her.

Valerie just stood as still as possible, she just had a minute left, and hopefully, it would shut off and leave her alone.

The bunny twitched for just a moment before it suddenly lunged at Valerie with the same hissing screech as the “phantom” animatronics. Its eyes and grin widened when it got right up in her face. 

Valerie yelped and pushed the swivel chair back in order to get away, but the animatronic was just content to get a closer look at her. It studied her face for half a second before it’s face morphed into an angry glare. It opened its mouth in a snarl and it took a swipe at the night guard.

Valerie cried out when the animatronic’s sharp fingers scratched her right cheek and knocked her out of her chair. She instantly scrambled away but the animatronic was much faster than it’s bulky appearance would lead one to believe. The animatronic pounced and grabbed her neck with one hand, slamming her up against the wall, high enough to the point were Valerie’s feet were off the ground. The rabbit’s eyes were narrowed and filled with unbridled _rage_ as it’s grip around Valerie’s throat tightened. 

Valerie's hands went straight for the animatronics arm in an attempt at prying it off, while her legs kicked wildly at the animatronics body. It paid no mind to Valerie’s attempt at struggling and just squeezed harder. Right when her vision started to darken and be filled with black dots, Valerie was dropped unceremoniously. Valerie coughed and rubbed her throat as she watched the animatronic walk away from her, as if in some sort of trance. Valerie vaguely realized it was 6 am if the chiming bells were an indication. 

Valerie sat against the wall, trying to catch her breath and slow down her heart rate.

“I… I almost _died…”_ She panted to herself, “That thing tried to kill me.” The adrenaline slowly left her body as the severity of the situation dawned on the night guard. 

Before she could get up, Valerie felt the familiar wave of dizziness and nausea that came before a vision.

“Here we go again, can’t I just get a break?” She said to herself before everything went black.

* * *

_When Valerie opened her eyes, she was back in the old pizzeria just like at the end of her last shift. She rubbed her throat in reflex and noticed it wasn’t throbbing horribly like it was seconds earlier. Valerie carefully prodded her cheek and checked her hand, and not a drop of blood was on her fingers._

_“_ **_Huh, I guess injuries from the real world don’t carry over here, weird,”_ ** _Valerie said to herself as she looked down the hall._

_It was Bonnie who was down the hallway instead of Freddy this time, for obvious reasons. And just like last time, the animatronic started walking down the hall, following the purple Freddy. Valerie quickly followed after, now knowing the importance of these visions._

**_“I think I’ve had my fill of rabbits for one night.”_ ** _She muttered to herself._

_She couldn’t see the purple Freddy herself this time, but she did see a cupcake in the middle of the hall Bonnie was walking down. He didn’t seem to notice the cupcake and walked right past it._

**_“Guess that’s tonight’s clue huh?”_ **

_By the time Bonnie reached the backroom where the scattered parts of Freddy laid, Valerie counted four cupcakes on the way there. And just like Freddy, Bonnie experienced some sort of error and was frozen in place._

**_“Wonder why being near that room messes with their programming so much,”_ ** _Valerie said to herself as she waited for the purple man to show up and dismantle Bonnie._

_Sure enough, after a second or two the purple man from the vision prior jumped out and made quick work of the poor bunny animatronic. This time, Valerie was watching the man, not the glitching animatronic. He was definitely purple, it just wasn’t a trick of her mind that made him appear that way. Or maybe it was the nature of the vision that made him appear that way, she wasn’t too sure. Valerie couldn’t place any more details on the man, since he was wearing a hoodie that obscured his face._

_It took the man less time to dismantle Bonnie than it did Freddy, and soon Valerie’s vision faded into static, just like last time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Source. Run Run by CK9C.  
> https://reversenightmare.tumblr.com/  
> https://twitter.com/TheDorkyDJ  
> https://thedorkydj.tumblr.com/


	6. Make this Puppet Proud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie heads home after her first night with Springtrap and has a much-needed conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's an exposition chapter and a chapter mostly featuring character interaction. We'll be getting back into the action next chapter don't worry.

**Wednesday, September 18th, 2019.**

Valerie groaned the moment she opened her eyes, the pain in her throat and on her cheek came back in full force. To add insult to injury, her legs had gone numb from how she was laying on the floor. Valerie gingerly stood up, using the wall for support since her legs felt like pins and needles. Just as her legs felt stable and she figured she wouldn’t trip over her own feet, Valerie heard a door open. 

Valerie’s eyes immediately shoot towards the exit door, and she catches Calum waltzing right into the building, without a care in the world. When he gets into the office and sees the state Valerie is in, his eyes widen and his mouth opens a bit in shock. She probably looks like an absolute disaster.

“Woah dude, had a rough night or what?” He walks over quickly to give her a hand but Valerie waves him off. 

“You know, you  _ could  _ have warned me that the ventilation was  _ that  _ crappy.” Calum rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously.

“I told ya this place would give you the spooks. Speaking of spooks, did Springtrap move around at all last night like in the stories?” Valerie raised an eyebrow at him.

“Springtrap? Is that what we’re going to call that  _ thing _ ?” Calum grinned widely at the night guard.

“Bingo! He needs a scary name if he’s going to be the star of this place.” Valerie just sighed, at least she didn’t have to keep calling it the spring animatronic.

“But seriously dude, did he move at all or anything?” Valerie  _ should  _ tell him the animatronic could move on its own and it was dangerous, but…

“Nope, last night went without a hitch, besides the ventilation being a pain in the ass. You’re damn lucky I outgrew my asthma years ago.” Calum looked inappropriately disappointed at the thought of Springtrap not moving and walking around.

_ It was a lot less cool when experiencing it first hand, trust me Calum, _ Valerie thought to herself.

She had no intention of involving anyone else in this web of craziness, least of all her brother’s best friend. She also had no intention of coming off as a crazed lunatic with visions and being able to see ghosts or some other bs. 

As Valerie crouched down to grab her bag she left on the floor, she felt Calum poke her shoulder. 

“If last night went so smoothly, then where did you get that scratch dude?”  _ Well crap, he noticed _ , Valerie thought to herself. 

She figured her hair would cover it up but apparently not. Think fast think fast…

“I had an argument with a stray cat on the way to the attraction.” Valerie quickly said as she stood up and headed for the exit. Hopefully, Calum buys it and will let her leave and go home.

“Heh, maybe it was an assassin sent from Candy’s.” Calum chuckled to himself as he thought of Freddy’s old, obscure rival. 

“Anyways, see ya later Val, sorry about the vents, we’re working on it, promise.” Valerie rolled her eyes but nodded. At least her complete bs lie somehow worked.

Valerie briskly walked to her car, completely done with Fazbear’s Fright for the moment, even though she would be back in several hours for her 3rd night.

“Now I just need to get home without dad noticing anything off, easier said than done...”

* * *

The first thing Valerie did when she parked her car in the driveway was to quickly shove her hat in her bag. She also zipped up her hoodie to cover her shirt. 

“Can’t let dad see the uniform, then I’m instantly busted.” She muttered to herself as she doubled checked to make sure her shirt was not visible underneath her hoodie. 

Her father’s car was also in the driveway, so he wasn’t at the hospital or one of his jobs at the moment. Which was going to make sneaking in much harder than it needed to be.

“I’m not a kid anymore, needing to sneak back into my own home after a night of debauchery or some shit,” Valerie grumbled to herself as she unlocked the front door and walked in. 

She  _ thought  _ that she could quickly sneak upstairs to her room without her father noticing, but one does not raise three children to adulthood as a single parent without noticing things. 

“Val, what took you so long to get home?” 

_ Shit,  _ Valerie stopped in her tracks the moment she heard her father’s voice. She turned to where she heard it and saw him standing in the kitchen making tea. The moment he saw her face he paled and rushed over to check on her.

“What the heck happened to you!? Did you get mugged? You should have called me Val!” 

_ Oh boy,  _ Valerie thought as she endured her father’s prodding,  _ he’s in full mother hen mode. _ Which did not come off as much of a surprise to Valerie. After all, one of Vincent’s children is in another state and the other is in a coma. So when Valerie walks in looking like she got into a bar fight, of course he was going to freak out.

“Dad, I’m  _ fine _ , I just had a nasty encounter with a stray cat on the way to the car,  _ I wasn’t mugged this time.”  _ Valerie mentally cursed when her voice cracked when she spoke, guess inhaling a bunch of vent gas and being strangled by a robotic rabbit had consequences. 

If anything, Vincent looked even more worried than he did before. He started herding her towards the kitchen and made her sit down. Vincent than grabbed a mug to pour some tea into and handed it to Valerie.

“You’re not getting sick are you? Your voice sounds awful.” Valerie was very grateful that her hoodie also covered her neck since it’s probably covered in a hand-shaped bruise.

“I’m  _ fine  _ dad, the vent system at work just bothered my throat more than I thought it would.” Vincent frowned slightly and Valerie scolded herself for saying too much.

“Bad ventilation? Hopefully, it doesn’t bring back your asthma.” He sighed. “Also, where are you working now? I think I would rest a little easier knowing where you’re going every night if you’re going to be working the graveyard shift.”

_ No, you wouldn’t,  _ Valerie thought,  _ You would ground me for life even though I’m 18. _

“I got a job at a gas station, you know the one near the edge of downtown?” Valerie answered as she sipped her tea, trying to act natural. 

This lie should probably work better than the cat one since there  _ was  _ a gas station near Fazbear’s Fright, since the “amusement park” was barely in the city limits. 

While Valerie was grasping at straws for a good lie, Vincent went to the bathroom to grab a first aid kit for Valerie’s cheek scratch. As he was applying the anti-infection cream he raised an eyebrow at Valerie’s answer.

“Near the event plaza?” Valerie just nodded as she finished off her tea. Vincent took the mug and walked over to the sink to wash it. Valerie quickly applied a large bandaid to her cheek while the first aid kit was still out.

He  _ seemed  _ to believe her lie, now she just had to make a quick getaway...

“I’m going to go get some sleep dad, since I feel like I’m going to topple over any minute.” That was another lie, Valerie was too wired to fall asleep anytime soon. 

“Ok Val, I’ll be leaving for work in an hour so call me if you need anything.” Vincent had his back turned to her so Valerie couldn’t read his face, so she hoped he wasn’t suspicious of her or anything.

“I’m not a kid anymore dad, I can handle myself for a few hours, sleep-deprived or not.” Vincent chuckled softly as he turned around to face her.

“I know Val, but you and your siblings will always be little kids to me.” Valerie groaned in embarrassment as she made her way towards the stairs.

“Daaaaaaaaaad, you’re such a softy, you know that right?” Vincent simply laughed at how embarrassed Valerie got.

“I know I know, get some rest Val, you’re going to need it for the night shift.” 

With that, Vincent left the kitchen and headed for his room, probably to get ready for work, leaving Valerie alone at the base of the stairs. 

* * *

Once Valerie entered her room, she immediately locked her door. She really did not want her father walking in on her, since she was a woman on a mission and someone in desperate need of answers. She haphazardly tossed her bag to the side as she went over to her desktop to start researching the history of Freddy Fazbears. Valerie didn’t have the chance to even get to her computer since she heard a faint jingle come from her bag once it landed. Like the sound of a dropped music box.

Valerie looked at her bag flabbergasted, before quickly opening it up, since last she checked it didn’t contain anything that could make the noise of a dying music box. Valerie made a noise of surprise when she saw the Puppet’s mask in her bag. She pulled it out carefully, and it flew out of her hands, startling her. 

She watched memorized as the body parts of the Puppet came out of the mask, like their body was carefully folded inside the mask. In only a couple of seconds, the Puppet fully materialized in her bedroom and was sitting on her bed.

“I thought you would  _ never  _ open your bag, it’s been many years since I’ve folded up myself like that and it was starting to cramp.” Valerie was just gawking at the Puppet, they never fail to surprise her.

“I…Huh, How did you even, why?” Valerie could only stutter out a string of thoughts, too astonished to think coherently. 

The Puppet’s grin got a little wider, and a high pitched chime came from their body, like their version of a laugh.

“I smuggled myself in your bag right after our conversation last night. Good thing too, since I was able to send  _ him  _ away from you before  _ he  _ could kill you.” 

The Puppet’s expression softened back to its normal grin

“Like I said last night, there are rules I need to obey while at a Fazbear’s location and I wouldn’t be able to give you the answers you seek if I was still there.” Valerie raised an eyebrow at the Puppet, puzzled.

“Does that cover any place associated with Freddy’s or places run by the original owners?” The Puppet tilted their head, and paused for a moment, thinking.

“I believe it would be the former, since it would be odd for the rules to control me at Fazbear’s Fright, since both owners are long dead.” Valerie’s eyes widen.

“Wait hold up, you know the people who originally owned the Fazbear brand?” Finally, the night guard was starting to get clearer answers.

“Of course I do, I’ve been around since before they fully rebranded to Fazbear’s, though I was only used as an attraction at the 87 location.” The Puppet’s face hardened, and they started tapping their fingers restlessly.

“One of the men who started everything was named Henry I believe, and for the life of me I cannot remember the other man’s name.” The Puppet than balled their fingers into a fist. “But I remember his  _ face,  _ he was the one behind all the murders.” 

Valerie had grabbed one of the many empty notebooks scattered all over her room once the Puppet started speaking, and had been scribbling down what they were saying. She looked up from her writing, eyes wide and mouth open.

“Are you telling me, one of the owners basically made the place just to kill kids? What the  _ hell _ .” Valerie made sure to keep her voice quiet despite her anger at this unnamed man. 

The Puppet sadly nodded before continuing, “That’s the unfortunate truth, though the murders didn’t truly start until the rebranding. He only claimed one victim at the original location, and I believe that was a spur of the moment murder.” 

Valerie had dragged her desk chair over to the edge of her bed since the Puppet was basically taking up the entire bed, and she gave the Puppet a questioning look.

“Spur of the Moment? What makes you say that?” The Puppet just released a sigh.

“It didn’t match up with his later killings, it was outside the location instead of inside, and I don’t think he would have been able to lure the child while in costume, it was raining that day and spring locks and water do not mix.” Valerie came to a sudden realization.

“Wait a minute, was this the “first life taken by malicious intend” you mentioned last night? Does that mean that you’re..?” Valerie didn’t quite know how to finish that question, how does one go about asking someone if they were a murder victim or not.

“No, I was not.” Valerie blinked, clearly confused. “I am not a child possessing this body, I don’t even know the name of the first victim, sadly, but I believe she did have a hand in making me who I am.” 

“So you’re literally just a sentient puppet with spooky ghost powers and shit?” The Puppet glared at Valerie, clearly annoyed at her choice of words.

“That is a rather crass way of putting it, but yes, basically.” The Puppet looked away.

“That’s how I was able to let the other victims possess the animatronics, since they were floating about in the Flipside before I managed to guide them out.” Oh right, the freaky spirit world place.

“What exactly is the Flipside? I know you sort of explained it last night, but you didn’t go into detail.” Valerie would very much like to know more about the spirit realm place, since she keeps finding herself in it. 

“It’s basically an in-between of life and death. A purgatory if you will.” The Puppet paused for a moment, clearly thinking about their word choice.

“The Flipside tends to leak over, hence why you are able to find a way in despite being a living being, though you are the only living human I’ve encountered who can interact with the Flipside…” The Puppet trailed off for a moment before continuing. “I personally see everything from the Flipside perspective, which you should be familiar with now, which has caused more grief than it should.” 

A somewhat guilty expression formed on the Puppet’s face as they looked down, clearly uncomfortable with making eye contact with Valerie before they made their next confession.

“All the night guards looked the same,  _ purple,  _ due to their uniforms _.  _ So the children and I have killed several innocent guards in our attempts at revenge.” Valerie stopped her writing to give the Puppet a hard glare.

“You guys nearly killed my godfather, he barely got out alive,” Valerie sighed softly, “It was before Marc and I were born, and his name is Scott if it rings a bell.” The Puppet lifted their head up, surprise clearly written on their face.

“That name  _ does  _ ring a bell, he’s been around since the rebranding.” The Puppet tapped their fingers against the end of the bed.

“Also speaking of your family, last night you mentioned your brother fell into a coma while at the attraction, and I may know why.” Valerie sat up a bit straighter.

“I believe the spirits tried to call out to him as they have done with you, but your brother lacked the spiritual energy to endure their cries. So the spirits may have put your brother in a coma in order to protect his mind.” 

Valerie raised an eyebrow at the Puppet’s explanation, something wasn’t quite right...

“How would that work? Marc and I are identical twins, so shouldn’t we have the same amount of spiritual energy or whatever?” The Puppet tilted their head slightly.

“Not all humans have the same affinity for the supernatural, even those who seem the same,” The Puppet than shook their head, “This is just a theory, I’m not as omnipotent as I seem.”

Valerie rubbed her temples and said, “We’re getting off-topic, you mentioned spring locks earlier, so the killer used one of the spring suits to kill the kids. So does that mean he’s the one possessing Springtrap?” When the Puppet gave her a look at the name, Valerie could only shrug.

“The bunny animatronic that tried to kill me last night? I didn’t come up with the name if you’re wondering.” The Puppet actually chortled,

“A fitting name for a fitting end,” The Puppet made direct eye contact with Valerie as they said that, and she couldn’t help but feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up.

“So I was nearly murdered by a serial killer last night, and I’m going to have to face him again tonight,  _ great. _ ” The Puppet gently patted her shoulder.

“You did well last night considering your lack of defenses compared to the guards at the older establishments.” 

Before Valerie could reply, a large yawn interrupted her before she could continue questioning the Puppet. The Puppet slowly floated off of Valerie’s bed and gestured at Valerie to lie down.

“You should really get some sleep,  _ Springtrap _ ,” The Puppet chortled again when saying the name, “Did quite the number on you.” 

Valerie instinctively rubbed her bruised throat and sighed,

“I know, but I was hoping you could tell me more of what happened at Fazbear’s, since it’ll help me save those poor kids after all.”

A pleased sounding chime came from the Puppet, and they patted Valerie’s head softly.

“I am happy that you are so eager to help the children, and I will certainly give you more information soon, but you can’t be their savior if your on death’s doorway.” Valerie rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be so dramatic, I’m fine now Puppet.” Valerie frowned, “Also I really need to call you something other than Puppet or Marionette. It feels too demeaning.” Valerie swore that the white pinpricks in the Puppet’s eyes widen slightly.

“Well, what did you have in mind? The employees never thought to give me a proper name and I never felt like I needed one.” Valerie didn’t need to think long to give the Puppet an answer.

“I’ve been calling you Mari in my head for shorthand, and I think it fits you. You like it?” Valerie watched the Puppets expression while waiting for their response.

“Mari…” The Puppet made a soft chiming noise as they repeated the name. “Mari, I quite like that name Valerie. Thank you very much, you’ve proven to be quite the special human so far.” Valerie flustered slightly at the compliment.

“Don’t mention it Mari, now I think I’ll take up your offer for resting now, sleep sounds  _ very  _ nice right about now.” 

Mari chuckled softly as they re-entered Valerie’s bag. Valerie changed out of her work clothes and fell asleep to a music box playing Grandfather’s Clock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Source. Make this Puppet Proud By Adam Hoek.
> 
> https://reversenightmare.tumblr.com/  
> https://twitter.com/TheDorkyDJ  
> https://thedorkydj.tumblr.com/


	7. Friendly Faces Turned Frightening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie has another child to help, and this time it won’t be as easy as she learns more about the Flipside and the dangers it carries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for not updating in forever, I was going through some serious writer's block and college has been a pain. But I'm back in my groove and updates should be happening semi-regularly now.

**Wednesday, September 18th, 2019.**

**Night 3**

When Valerie woke up, Grandfather’s Clock was no longer playing and her phone was going off like crazy. The young woman yawned and blindly reached for her phone, she stupidly went to bed with her contacts still in.

“Hello?” Valerie answered once she got a hold of her phone.

“Hey Val! It’s been ages since we talked girl!” 

Valerie sat up and yawned out a reply,

“Nessie? What’s up?” 

She was rewarded with laughter on the other end of the phone.

“Geez did you just wake up? You sound like you’re drunk hah.” Valerie could feel her cheeks burn a bit.

“Yeah actually, I work nightshifts now so I get to sleep during the day, like the true night owl I am,” Nessie clicked her tongue.

“You’re helping Calum with his horror attraction thing? Jason told me, and he told me about Marc. How is he by the way?” Valerie sighed heavily.

“He’s physically fine, he just won’t wake up, it’s so weird.”

“I wish I could visit him, but college is _such_ a pain! That’s what I get for majoring in the medical field,” There was a pause, “Have you figured out what you want to major in yet?”

Valerie groaned and threw her head back, “Don’t remind me! I’m taking a gap year for a reason Nessie!” 

Her best friend giggled on the other end, “I know I know, I was just checking, so how have you been spending that gap year so far?”

The two girls chatted for over an hour, mostly about everything that’s happened since they last talked. Except for all the weird supernatural shit Valerie’s been overwhelmed with, of course, that’s for her to know only.

“Oh crap! I have to get to work in an hour, talk to you later Nessie!”

“I’ll hold you to that Val, night night!”

Once the call ended, Valerie reluctantly got out of bed, heading for her computer to start her Fazbear History lesson before work. Valerie’s stomach growled loudly the moment she sat down and the young woman groaned.

“I’m never going to get a chance at googling this nightmare company am I?” She said to herself as she rushed downstairs to grab something to eat.

Thankfully, Vincent was at the hospital at the moment so Valerie didn’t run into her worrywart father. The young woman grabbed a bagel and headed back to her room, not even bothering to put anything on the plain bagel. 

“Ok Fazbear’s, what does the internet have to say about you?” Valerie mumbled to herself as she typed while holding the bagel in her mouth.

Well, apparently the internet had a fair amount of things to say about the old pizza chain. Article upon article detailing the rumors and incidents of the pizzeria. Most of what Valerie found was message boards discussing the supposed hauntings of the pizzeria.

“Yeah yeah, the place was super haunted, come on give me something I don’t know.” 

Valerie tapped her fingers against her desk and thought for a moment, before typing ‘Freddy Fazbear’s original owner.’

The brunette grinned to herself as something popped up, “There we go, finally something new.”

Henry Emily and William Afton, those were the names of the original owners. Valerie managed to uncover an old newspaper article announcing the opening of Fredbear’s Family Diner. The first location if the date was an indication.

Unfortunately, that was about all Valerie could find on the two men. Henry disappeared off the face of the Earth after the closing of the Diner in the wake of some sort of accident involving one of the animatronics. 

“The last name Emily sounds familiar for some reason, I just can’t place it…” The brunette mumbled as she switched gears and looked for more dirt on Afton.

The night guard was able to find more information on Afton compared to Henry, apparently he started his own robotics company in the wake of Freddy’s closing. The company, Afton Robotics, closed down about two-decades ago. The man was also declared dead around that same time, due to being missing for a long period of time.

“Now he’s trapped in a bunny suit and stuck in a horror attraction, serves the bastard right,” Valerie growled under her breath as she closed her laptop, ready to take on her third night.

* * *

Fazbear’s Fright looked the same as always, no new props to surprise the night guard this time, thankfully. Valerie briskly walked to the office, wanting to waste no time. The night guard opened her bag as she stepped into the office, Mari flying out of it just like they did in Valerie’s room. The puppet circled around Valerie as she tossed her bag on the desk and flipped opened the monitor, the night guard scanning through the cameras.

“What did you see in your vision? Perhaps I could assist your search for it.” Mari said as they peered over Valerie’s shoulder.

“I saw these… Ghost cupcakes all over the place, I probably have to tap on them like the drawing.” The night guard replied as she flipped through the cameras.

“Where are they…?” Mari rubbed their chin in thought as Valerie kept flipping through the cameras, no cupcakes in sight.

“You may have to tap into your spiritual abilities to find them, it seems like they aren’t visible to the naked eye,” Valerie’s head turned towards them, head tilted and eyebrow raised,

“Ok… How would I do that? I thought I could only do weird spiritual shit in the Flipside,” Mari was in front of Valerie suddenly, carefully closing the monitor as they put their hands on Valerie’s face.

“Focus on _why_ you’re doing this and what you are searching for, there should be a feeling of something turning on if you do it correctly,” Valerie gave the puppet a blank stare but did as they asked.

Thoughts of her twin brother, her father, and all the people the killer, _Afton,_ had hurt, filled the night guards’ mind. She thought of all the unanswered questions she and many people had over what happened to those poor kids. 

A second later, it felt like a light switch was flipped inside Valerie’s head, and her vision frizzled.

Valerie hissed and closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again. A surprised yelp escaped her lips. Everything in Valerie’s vision looked like it was covered in blacklight. 

**“Woah, that’s different,”** Valerie covered her mouth once her words left her lips, her voice had a twang to it now, just like Mari’s. 

Speaking of Mari, they were grinning widely now and circling around Valerie again.

“Wonderful Valerie! That wasn’t too difficult, I’m impressed,” They patted the night guard on the shoulder as she was searching through the camera with renewed vigor.

“Now to turn it off, close your eyes and relax completely, and _do not_ stay like this for too long, it isn’t healthy for your long term mental health,” Valerie nodded as she finally paused on one of the cameras. 

**“Found one,”** She grinned and tapped the cupcake that was hiding away. 

Nothing happened, the cupcake didn’t react.

 **“That’s weird,”** Valerie mumbled as she tapped it again.

Still, nothing, Mari tilted their head, frown on their face.

“Unfortunately, I have a feeling you need to _physically_ interact with these cupcakes to enter the rift this time,” Valerie groaned.

“ **Oh great, the moment I conk out our resident murder bunny will be right on my ass!** ” 

Mari looked around the office for a moment before floating towards the prop box near the door, Valerie’s eyes tracking them. 

Mari pushed the box to the side, revealing a crowbar resting against the wall. The puppet gingerly picked it up.

“I believe you’ll be able to defend yourself with this if _he_ gets near you.” Mari’s eyes twinkled before they said, “Aim for his knees, the joints will be particularly sensitive.” 

Valerie snorted as she walked over to the puppet.

 **“Kneecap the giant, killer bunny with a crowbar, ok, sure. Like my life isn’t weird enough already,”** The night guard mumbled as she took the crowbar, holding it in her dominant hand. 

Valerie also took a flashlight with her, since Fazbear’s Fright was about as bright as a Horror Attraction should be, and that means the place is almost impossible to traverse without bumping into something in the dark. She quickly hooked it to her belt.

As Valerie stepped out the door, Mari stopped her for a moment.

“Hopefully you will not need to use it, you have an hour to find the child, that should be enough time.” Mari floated back towards Valerie’s bag, “The moment you come to, head back here immediately, I can’t help you until 6 am once midnight comes,”

 **“I’ll be fine Mari, finding the kid was a piece of cake last time, ”** Valerie paused, **“I didn’t mean to make that into a pun,”**

Mari gave Valerie an annoyed look, ah there it is. The Puppet blankly pointed their fingers out the door.

“Just get going.”

**“Alright alright, sheesh, tough crowd tonight.”**

* * *

Thankfully, Valerie already found the ghost cupcakes through the cameras and it was just a matter of getting to each room to find them. 

Valerie paused when she passed by the viewing window and caught a glimpse of her reflection.

 **“Woah,”** The night guard whispered as she stared at herself. 

Valerie’s green eyes had been swallowed by darkness, only a pinprick of white escaping. Even her sclera was stained black.

 **“Freaky,”** The night guard picked up the pace after staring at herself for a moment longer.

It did not take long for Valerie to stumble across the first cupcake.

 **“There you are!”** Valerie exclaimed as she reached out for it.

It was strange, the monochrome cupcake felt like a normal cupcake. In fact, it gave Valerie the same exact feeling of the kind Vincent would make for hers and Marcus’s shared birthday. The thought of those treats swept through Valerie’s mind as the ghost cupcake disappeared.

**“God this place is _so_ weird…”**

Each cupcake gave the night guard the same exact feeling, it was quite the uncanny feeling but she pressed on. She headed to room 6 to find the last one.

**“Oh, you got to be _fucking_ kidding me.”**

There, lying against the wall near the arcade machines, was Springtrap. He was inactive as far as Valerie could tell, his eyes dimmed out and staring at the floor. The night guard mustered the courage to poke him with the crowbar, albeit at a distance, getting no reaction. 

She swore she saw _something_ inside the suit, and Valerie had a vague guess as to what it was. A shudder went through the night guard’s body.

**“How the hell Calum thought you were safe to keep in here is anyone’s guess,”**

The brunette looked around for a moment before spotting the final cupcake on top of one of the arcade machines, and she ran right towards it.

 **“Ok, there’s no way I’m passing out right in front of Jigsaw over there,”** Valerie mumbled as she touched the final cupcake.

Immediately after she did, the familiar wave of dizziness engulfed the night guard. Valerie stumbled behind the arcade machines and slid down the one farthest from Springtrap, only then did she allow her vision to completely fade to black. 

* * *

_Valerie was once more in a pixelated reality, filled with the color green this time around. The night guard examined herself and she was wearing the puppet costume just like the first time she entered the Flipside._

_**“** **G** _ **_uess Mari doesn’t need to be right next to me to be my anchor,_ ** _” She mumbled, **"**_ **_That’s good to know,"_ **

_This time around though, it seems like her flashlight followed her into the Flipside, as it was clipped to her belt just like in the real world. Although, the crowbar didn’t follow her it seemed._

**_“I_ _don’t think I’ll need the crowbar in here... Hopefully,_ ”**

_The flashlight was soon unclipped from Valerie’s belt and held in her left hand. She tapped the on button of the flashlight, and sure enough, it worked normally. She quickly turned it off to save its battery before she started walking down the pixelated corridors._

_The night guard didn’t have to walk for long before she found her guide for the night. This time, it was Chica, but not the old model whose remains decorated Fazbear’s Fright. For one, she was skinnier and smaller than the older Chica. This Chica also had a plastic-like texture to her parts, similar to Mangle and Balloon Boy._

**_“_ _You’re from the toy line of animatronics, aren’t you?_ "** _The chicken nodded and used her free hand to point to her cupcake, **“G**_ **_uessing I’m solving more cupcake puzzles tonight,_ _”_ **

_Valerie followed Toy Chica as she was passing cupcakes out to crying children, just normal crying kids, not dead ones. The night guard was looking around the 8-bit environment for any false walls, already familiar with how the Flipside worked._

_Things took a turn when Toy Chica gave a cupcake to the last crying child, Valerie could hear and even feel loud footsteps. She barely got a chance to look around before Valerie was suddenly shoved and she fell to the floor, a surprised yelp escaping her._

_The night guard jumped to her feet and turned on her flashlight, waving it around looking for whatever pushed her. What she found wasn’t pretty. The light of the flashlight illuminated a giant figure. It sort of resembled Chica, but everything about it screamed dangerous. The animatronic was mangled and torn, worse than even Springtrap. It had three rows of sharp teeth, long claws, and a glowing red eye. It looked like something from a horrible dream._

_The Nightmare animatronic stalked towards the night guard, a hissing noise coming from it. Valerie aimed the flashlight for the Nightmare Chica’s eyes, and she covered her eyes with those giant hands of hers. The night guard turned on her heel before she started booking it back down the hall._

**_“_ _Ok, now the Flipside has killer animatronics, ain’t that just peachy!_ "** _Valerie yelled in frustration and mild terror as she ran._

_She managed to put quite the distance between herself and Nightmare Chica, and just when she thought she was given a break, she ran into something hard and solid, sending her back to the floor. Valerie smacked the back of her head against the floor, stunning her for a moment as she tried to regain her bearings._

_A large, clawed paw suddenly was coming towards her face, and the night guard barely rolled out of the way, the paw leaving a crater where she just was. Valerie shined the flashlight above the paw, trying to aim for the creature's face. She must have gotten its eyes as it stumbled back, giving her a good look at it._

_It was like a nightmare version of Bonnie. It was just as big as the nightmare Chica and it had just as many teeth. Its claws were also just as razor-sharp. The Nightmare Bonnie was rubbing its eyes still, giving Valerie a chance at escape._

_The night guard rushed past the nightmare rabbit, not looking back as she frantically looked for the false wall. Nightmare Chica suddenly popped out in front of her with a screech, the brunette letting out a startled scream as a result._

**_“_ _Where the hell did these horror movie animatronics come from?!_ "** _Valerie growled to herself as she shined the flashlight in Nightmare Chica’s eyes once more._

_As Valerie was running all over the 8-bit environment trying to lose her pursuers, she spotted Toy Chica waving at her from a platform. The night guard ran as fast as she could towards her, with both nightmare animatronics hot on her heels._

_She dived for where Toy Chica was, feeling the rush of air as one of the nightmare’s tried to take a bite out of her, and she phased right through the wall._

_Thankfully, her fall was short and the terrified scream Valerie let out was cut short when she landed on a familiar balloon. She looked up from where she fell and could hear loud breathing behind the wall._

**_“_ _Suck it you Krueger wannabes!_ "** _The young woman wheezed out, exhausted from all the running._

_After laying down on the balloon for a minute to catch her breath, Valerie got up and climbed up the next one, clipping her flashlight back to her belt as she did. She spotted the child on a platform in the far corner of the room._

_Valerie approached the child with a soft smile on her face. She kneeled down towards them, patting their head comfortingly._

**_“_ _Hey kiddo, got something for ya,_ ** _**”** The cake appeared in front of the child as those words left Valerie’s lips _

_The child stopped crying and looked up at Valerie, whose vision was already fading. While Valerie’s vision faded into static, she for sure heard a quiet voice say thank you._

* * *

Awareness came back to Valerie slowly, and the first thing she noticed was her vision was back to normal.

 _Guess going to the Flipside automatically turned off my silvered eye thing._ Valerie thought to herself as she covered her mouth to suppress a pained groan. 

No matter how many times she’s gone to the Flipside, coming back was always a pain. The last thing the night guard wanted was Springtrap hearing her and making a beeline to maul her to death.

The night guard stood up slowly, sliding up the arcade machine since she was still somewhat dizzy from the Flipside. Oddly enough, she wasn’t winded like she was in the Flipside from all the running.

 _How long was I out?_ Valerie thought to herself as she gripped the crowbar in her left hand. _Those nightmare...things really slowed me down,_

Valerie quietly pulled out her phone with her free hand to check the time and paled when it read 12:00 am. 

Suddenly the sound of metal shifting and a pained, breathing noise filled the room. 

Springtrap was awake, ready for the hunt to begin again. This time, Valerie didn’t have the safety of the office as the night officially began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Source. I'm Sorry by Madame Macabre.
> 
> https://reversenightmare.tumblr.com/  
> https://twitter.com/TheDorkyDJ  
> https://thedorkydj.tumblr.com/


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